1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to carbon film-coated articles which can be used as parts of engines (e.g., internal combustion engines including gasoline engines, diesel engines or the like), cutting articles such as cutting tools, parts of cutting tools, etc., and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A carbon film such as a DLC film (diamond-like carbon film) has a high hardness, a high wear resistance and a low friction coefficient. It has been proposed to increase the wear resistance of and lower the coefficient of friction of engine parts, cutting articles and like sliding articles by utilizing such characteristics of the carbon film. The wear resistance and the coefficient of friction of the sliding articles can be improved by coating the sliding articles with the DLC film or like carbon films.
However, generally the DLC film and like carbon films are low in the adhesion to the substrate of the sliding articles made of steel or the like and therefore are easily separable from the substrate. For improving the adhesion of the DLC film and like carbon films to the substrate, it was proposed to form an intermediate layer between the carbon film and the substrate. The proposal, however, failed to create a sufficient adhesion.